"The time has come to move on"

[On this date in 1997 conflicting signals were emanating from United Kingdom Government circles about the prospects for a Lockerbie trial:]

Reuters 1: Britain has given up hope of bringing to trial two Libyans suspected of the bombing of a United States airliner over Lockerbie in Scotland in 1988, British government sources said on Saturday. A senior British government source said there was no prospect of the two Libyans being brought to trial. “We have to be realistic. It was so long ago. The time has come to move on,” a senior British government source told The Times newspaper in a report also echoed by BBC Radio.

Reuters 2: The British government on Saturday insisted it had not given up hope of bringing to trial two Libyans suspected of the bombing of a US airliner over Lockerbie in 1988, in which 270 people died. “Lockerbie is an issue of the highest importance to the British government. We are determined to secure justice for the victims of this monstrous crime,” a spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair said.